Dr. Ruth Oltjer, CEO, Chemi-Pharm; Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Winner; Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2015 – Member of the Jury

From the Negotiation Technology I use planning daily – and effectively.
Before every negotiation I determine ourminimum and maximum outcome. What is the absolute minimum, below which the cooperation will not make sense for us, and the maximum beyond which it would not make sense for the other party.

Negotiations may take an unexpected turn. We use our own sign system in our negotiations team: when the lead negotiator decides to change direction, then the other members do not get confused, but understand instantly and go along with the ride.

Negotiation Technology has sharpened my eyes about seeing the possibilities in situations where you normally would not dare to go. It has been particularly valuable when something has not gone the predicted way – like it sometimes happens even in the best-planned big projects! Fixing the errors, keeping relationships, not going into crisis… these are the real benefits, which have tremendous value.

Negotiation Technology – course itself: Luxurious, enjoyable, useful – different tuition style and rhythm.
Application: Systematic, well applicable in leader’s everyday life.
Total: Valuable! Development starts when you get out of your comfort zone. This masterclass gives you skills and courage to do that.

At the Negotiation Technology course I obtained an elegant suitcase of tools, many of which I’m by now using intuitively. Most of my negotiations bring success both to me and my partners – we participate in each other’s success stories.

The essence of all successful entrepreneurial business development lies in ‘know who’ and the successful development of ‘trust based’ relationships. This demands a constant process of learning and education of all key stakeholders and external decision makers. The skills needed for this process are at the centre of this programme.

An essential element in success is selecting who to deal with and who to learn from. The Estonian Euromanagement Institute is itself an examplar of successful development of key relationships over more than two decades.

Before coming to the Negotiation Technology course, I thought that I knew quite a lot about negotiations. And about relationships in life in general. – I was wrong! I realized that I knew a lot less than I thought.

Yes, the focus was negotiation skills. But the real value came to me at the end of the course: I realized that every situation in life, work, family etc – reflects my own inner balance. Surprisingly often we think we know, but actually do not know what we want: what is important and why. Success in negotiations is not how well we bargain with the other party, but rather – how well we know what we really want, and why.

Women are not as self-confident as men – at least in business settings. We would like to do things in the right way. I have to confess, I was rather skeptical before the course. But the masterclass surprised me pleasantly: all of us, experienced leaders and managers, came out of our comfort zones. At the Negotiation Technology course I really learned how to “read” my partners. This is a necessary precondition for the result – we both feel like winners when we raise from the negotiations’ table and shake hands.

What often happens: after the course is over, emotions fade and the course folder lies unopened in the drawer. This did not happen after Negotiations’ Technology! I started using NT right away, and have done it daily – with growing joy.
Business is relationships (Peter Drucker). With NT we have grown our company in different ways.
First: in the market: from competition to collaboration. If you are partnering – instead of competing and fighting for survival – both parties can grow from their strengths, become more prosperous. This frees time for thinking.
Second: inside the company: form dictatorship to diplomacy. Third: inside the family: I found surprisingly that parenting the teenager the NT skills came very handy.